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Sweden men's hockey enter Olympics black and blue

Sweden's goalkeeper Jhonas Enroth is congratulated by Victor Hedman and other teammates after winning their 2012 IIHF mens's ice hockey World Championship Group S game with Norway in Stockholm May 4, 2012. (REUTERS/Petr Josek)

They might want to add a little black to sum up the physical state of the Swedish team heading into the Olympic tournament.

Everybody has got their share of nicks and aches heading into the Games, but the Swedes, especially at forward, have a lot of question marks.

Concussions have been an issue for Loui Eriksson of the Boston Bruins, Alexander Steen of the St. Louis Blues and Johan Franzen of the Detroit Red Wings. Detroit captain Henrik Zetterberg has had issues with a herniated disc, while teammate Daniel Alfredsson has been battling groin issues.

Henrik Sedin of the Vancouver Canucks had his iron-man streak end at 679 games with what appeared to be a rib injury in a game against Phoenix.

On the blue line, Coyotes defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson missed some time with a concussion, but returned to the Coyotes lineup, Detroit’s Jonathan Ericsson has had rib issues and Vancouver’s Alex Edler missed a month with a lower-body injury.

As of this writing, those ailments don’t look like they will keep any of those players from competing in the Olympics, but they do leave you wondering just what kind of level they will be capable of reaching when the puck drops.

The Swedes are also a country in transition with a few veterans left from their 2006 gold-medal winning team and a bunch of Olympic rookies. Can this combination get the job done?

It’s pretty much been all or nothing for Sweden at the Olympics since NHLers joined the party.

It won gold in Italy in 2006, but finished fifth in the three other Olympic tournaments, including an upset for the ages in 2002 with a loss to Belarus on the infamous Vladimir Kopat goal on Swedish goaltender Tommy Salo.

FORWARDS: Sweden has a mix of veterans (Alfredsson, Franzen, the Sedins, Zetterberg) who might be somewhat past their best-before date and some kids getting their first big chance on the international stage like Gabriel Landeskog, Carl Hagelin, Marcus Kruger and Jakob Silfverberg. That leaves just a handful of guys in their prime. Can they get enough out of each group to be contenders?

DEFENCE: The Swedes might come close to having the most mobile group of defenders in the Olympic tournament. Ekman-Larsson and Erik Karlsson can skate with the best of them, while guys such as Niklas Kronwall and Edler add physicality. This is a strong two-way group that can pretty much play it any way you want it.

GOALTENDING: Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers had what amounts to a poor start for him in the first half. When’s the last time you saw him miss multiple games because of performance? He has looked a little more like his old self lately and that’s good news for the Tre Kroner. They will go as far as Lundqvist wants to take them.

COACHING: Par Marts, who’s been a fixture on the international scene behind the bench for Sweden at the world junior championships and world championships, takes over the Olympic team from Bengt Ake Gustafsson. He won’t be afraid to push the attack, which could make for some entertaining hockey on Sweden’s part.